“Only God has prevented the unthinkable from happening… It is more important than ever that we stand together and show our true character as Americans, by remaining strong and determined and not allowing evil to win. I truly love our country and I love all of you and I look forward to speaking to our great nation this week from Wisconsin.” No time to recover from the shock of the shooting at the Butler rally that Donald Trump is back to charging his people, on the eve of the Republican convention in Milwaukee that will officially crown him candidate for the White House on Thursday. “I will never give up“, he assures.
The tycoon does not forget the other victims of the shooting (one dead and two wounded), but he is the one who elevates himself as a political martyr hoping to capitalize electorally on the attack, as usually happens to those who are targeted: the case of Bolsonaro teaches us. Yet paradoxically he was the victim of a climate of violence that he himself helped to instigate and fuel, from the attack on the Capitol by his fans later defined as “patriots” to the threats once morest judges and witnesses in his trials, from the criminalization of migrants to the derision of his opponents, starting with the “corrupt” Joe Biden.
Becoming a fuse for all those hateful impulses that smolder in American society (including the radical left) and that among the many dark episodes includes the attack with hammers to the head once morest the husband of former speaker Nancy Pelosi. The tycoon has also warned in the past that if he does not win “it will be a bloodbath”. And, as if by a law of retaliation, he was also a victim of the spread of those weapons that he continues to defend like a totem, hit by an Ar-15, icon of the American conservative movement. The attacker was also wearing a t-shirt of the popular pro-gun YouTube channel Demolition Ranch at the time of the attack.
But The Donald seems to be able to survive anything and surely his reaction to the gunshots – a raised fist and an invitation to fight – will become another of his iconic images, like the mug shot of his arrest in Georgia. The attack was condemned by both the right and the left, with the global far-right rallying around him, while Elon Musk gave him his “full endorsement”, Biden called him and so did the new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
His entire family embraced him, from Ivanka (“I love you, Dad, today and always”) to Melania, who following stepping away from her husband’s campaign will be arriving at the convention: “The attacker is a monster who considered my husband an inhuman political machine and attempted to steal his passions, his laughter, his ingenuity, his love of music and his ability to inspire,” she wrote on X, inviting us to “rise above the vitriol and superficial ideas that incite violence” and not to forget “that opinions and political games are less powerful than love.”
The tycoon is also getting a boost on social media, where he has reposted words of solidarity and images that portray him as someone “who took a bullet for this country” or who was saved by the Lord. “It is unbelievable that an act like this would happen in the United States,” Trump was indignant on Truth, thanking the Secret Service “for the rapid response to the shooting.” But now even his entourage is wondering if there was some flaw. Stephen Moore, senior adviser to his campaign, notes that “if the bullet had landed an inch further it would have been an assassination.” And he continues: “Trump certainly needs more protection: now people are wondering if the Secret Service was fully prepared.”
Video Trump Shots: Attacker’s Body Eliminated by Secret Service
Video FBI: ‘It was an attempt to assassinate Trump’
Video Trump Shots, Witness Says ‘He Had Blood on His Face’
Video Trump gets off his plane following the shooting
Biden Calls Trump: ‘This Is the Time for Unity’ (by Benedetta Guerrera)
A phone call to Donald Trump the night following the attack on Butler, the rush back from Delaware to Washington, an hours-long briefing in the White House Situation Room with the heads of the FBI and Secret Service and a speech to the nation from the Oval Office. The hours immediately following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump were frenetic for Joe Biden, who immediately condemned all forms of political violence in the United States and expressed solidarity with his Republican rival, but in the coming hours he will also have to make a clear change of direction in the electoral campaign, lowering the most aggressive tone of recent times and avoiding overly personal attacks once morest a leader who came close to death.
“I had a short but good phone call with Donald Trump,” the commander-in-chief said from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, calling his Republican rival by name for the first time in recent weeks and not with the derogatory term “the other guy.” Informed sources called the conversation “respectful” and Biden said he was “happy to know” that the former president is recovering. Butler’s, he stressed, was a “sick act.” “There is no place for violence in the United States,” insisted the president, who has made the fight once morest political extremism the central axis of his first and second electoral campaigns. Biden also ordered an internal investigation into the actions of the Secret Service at the rally to understand if there were security breaches. Then an appeal for reconciliation – “this is the time to stand together” – and not to jump to conclusions regarding the motive for the attack. Almost a warning to those among the Republicans who have accused the rhetoric of the Democrats and the president in particular of being responsible for the attempted assassination. Biden then canceled the trip to Texas scheduled for Monday, all the events and campaign spots scheduled in Pennsylvania and also a rally by Vice President Kamala Harris in Palm Beach, where the tycoon’s summer residence is located. A change of pace by the Democrat who in recent times, especially following the disastrous televised debate, had intensified the attacks directed once morest Trump – “threat to democracy”, “inciter of extremists” and “convicted criminal” – and raised the level of the conflict. But also a decisive attitude, as a commander in chief at a decisive moment in the race for the White House.
Biden’s response to the shocking assassination attempt, in fact, will be crucial to relaunching his presidency, reinvigorating his image, definitively silencing the criticism of those Democrats who are insistently calling for his withdrawal and thus definitively closing the torpedo operation. Also because, according to many within the party, the events of Butler have frozen the internal debate and this is no longer the time to push for Biden’s exit. So the president has locked himself in the Situation Room with Vice President Kamala Harris, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. In short, he has taken the helm to demonstrate that even in this dark moment the United States has a leader who can lead them out of the tunnel.
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2024-07-15 16:28:41
